Paddington Bear - A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

Today I get to tell you about a product by a British company called Branch Out World. 

For the past month I've been looking over a unit study by Branch Out World about the children's picture book, Paddington Bear. 
I did not own a copy of Paddington Bear, and my library did not have a copy that I could verify was what I needed, so I was able to order an inexpensive copy on line.

The Paddington Bear Unit Study is a digital product and is geared towards children ages 5-10. It is, however, flexible. There are many younger children who would love to be part of these activities, and there are many suggested activities that an older child would love to participate in as well.

I do not currently have any children in my home, and I was asked to write an informational review of this product as one who has raised children who were once that age, and as someone who still works with children and has a grandchild on the way!

The first thing I noticed that the Paddington Bear unit study suggested was that part of the plan was to read Paddington Bear to the child(ren) each day for five days in a row. This reminded me of other unit studies I have seen. It also reminded me how much young children like repetition!

I then glanced quickly at some of the content of the study and thought to myself that with older children one might want to take more than a week to do these activities! Then I read through the book.

I was previously familiar with Paddington. In the deep recesses of my brain I have a recollection of Wellington boots and a rain slicker. On reading this book, the one that kicks off all the Paddington stories that follow, I realized that I may never have actually read this before.

This book lays out the story of how Paddington first came to join the Brown family in London. Paddington came from Lima, Peru. I knew none of this! After reading the story I went back to look more deeply at the study.

I was so fun to be exposed to British terms that I didn't understand! At the very beginning I read this:
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I chuckle every time I read it. I imagine a "Library ticket" has something to do with reserving a copy of Paddington Bear at the library. The rest of "Before you start" includes ways to prepare for your week.

When I was a new home schooler, it is embarrassing but true, there were times when I would open something like this study on Monday morning for the first time and expect to be able to just roll into using it without any preparation at all. That is just silly, but I wasn't good yet at preparing.

This unit study is like a smorgasbord, and you need to prepare for using it by reading it through and choosing which activities you will do, and then preparing for those activities. 

The week's plan is divided down this way:
Day 1: Explore the setting;
Day 2: Exploring the words;
Day 3: Exploring the pictures;
Day 4: Exploring Science; 
Day 5: Exploring Maths, Crafts and More

I decided to read through the plan and brainstorm about which activities I would choose if I had a child to do this with. So on Day 1, I would start by reading through the picture book. Then we would color maps of England and Peru. Then we would pull down the globe, and I'd help him find Lima, Peru and London, England so he could see how very far Paddington had traveled. If I had found easy books on each, we would read books on England and Peru. You can also create a time line. It was fun to learn that Paddington Bear was first published the year I was born, and that is also the first year ant farms were created and marketed! Who knew?

On Day 2, after reading through the book I would ask my child to give a narration back to me of the story. If he wanted to, he could draw a picture or two to go with his story. I would pick words out of the story and ask if he knew what they were, and explain if he didn't. I'm thinking "stowaway", "tart", and "marmalade".  The rest of the vocabulary seemed self-explanatory, though. I would totally serve tea and buttered toast with marmalade.

I was going to buy some and make up the toast and marmalade anyway, but I couldn't bring myself to do it as the first listed ingredient is "sugar". ::sigh:: I liked the idea of focusing on correct grammar by zooming in on the speech of the cab driver and seeing if the child can catch the improper words for correct grammar. In this section of the study I learned that there is a chapter book called A Bear called Paddington. I think this is the book I remember from my children's childhoods.

On Day 3 we would take a slow study of the pictures in the picture book. I totally love the suggestions given for doing this, and suggested questions to ask. Picture study is a bit of a lost art, but one I encouraged with my son, who was my last student and was an only student all his years in our home school. I was delighted with the special information given about architectural features to look for in the pictures to discuss. I liked the suggested art project to teach about depth using methods of overlapping.

Day 4 is Science day, and we would totally want to learn about bears native to Peru. We would spend some time learning about and playing with shaving cream. We would make our own foam! There were instructions for making Foam Food ("Do not eat!"). I'm not sure I would do this one because 1) I'm lazy, and 2) I had kids that if I said, "Do not eat!" they saw it as a challenge or an invitation. I would want to steam up the bathroom so he could write in the steam on the mirror! I also loved the idea of taking time to do some "Nature Study". Paddington arrived at the Brown's house to find a tortoise, birds and plants in the garden. What can we spot in our own yard? Shall we take a walk and see how many types of birds we can spot? Shall we name the types of trees we see?

Day 5, Maths Day, starts with discussion of parallel lines. Parallel lines never touch, but I would love to discuss with him how, as you look down the train tracks, they look like they get closer together (but don't actually). I actually live near a train station, and I would probably have hopped in the car and driven to the station for a little field trip. We would have a snack in the station cafe (just like Paddington did), and would also discuss the parallel train tracks and look at them. Coming home we would do some work with paper, pencil and ruler, learning about shapes with parallel lines. Day 5 also has a suggestion for making a shaving foam map of Peru, but in a more permanent form. I love it!

The pages following Day 5 include wonderful recipes to try out (Strawberry Tart and Marmalade). One ingredient might be hard to find in the US, so I'd substitute if I had to, no worries! There is information on snacks in Peru, and ideas for more things to do. I would totally want to take my little guy to the bear section at the zoo to see the bears from Peru.

The Paddington study is full of appendices with all sorts of information and material to use to complete your studies. There are maps for coloring and marking up, flag pictures for coloring and learning what each country's flag looks like, mini book templates you can use in your study, information about migration (immigration, emigration), passports, a notebooking page about Andean Bears, and loads of facts about England, Peru, Andean Bears and population migration.

Branch Out World has many unit studies of this type available, so follow the link and check out your options. If you are still thinking about what you will do this fall, and how you will make learning fun, check out this Paddington Bear unit study. 

Other members of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew also rewed this product, and you can find their reviews by clicking the link below. Go check out their photos of projects they actually did with their kids!